Member Testimonial: Barbara Kuhn

I've lived in Memphis since 1982 but I had never belonged to a church until I joined this church 3 years ago. I made a decision to find a faith community, and Church of the River was supposed to be my first stop on a tour of several churches. It only took one service to realize I was home.

I wanted to share a story that I think it demonstrates exactly why "we bother" to come to church. I volunteer off and on as a dog walker with the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County. So naturally this story starts with a dog, a shar-pei mix named Biscuit, a veteran of many fights, who had been abandoned was living on the streets around Covington Pike. A woman spotted Biscuit hanging about near a car wash on Covington Pike about a year and a half ago. She was going to take it and help it, but a man stopped her and said the dog was his. This was Joseph (not his real name), a homeless man who lived behind the car wash. He had taken Biscuit under his wing some time earlier and was feeding him whenever he could. The woman’s sister-in-law and her brother began helping Joseph, leaving money on account for him to buy food at a nearby fast food restaurant. They gave him a phone number he could call if he needed help.

Joseph is a veteran who wound up homeless after being shot during a holdup. During the long convalescence he lost his leg, job, his insurance and his home. He wasn't comfortable living with his sister, so he took up residence behind the car wash and subsisted doing odd jobs. He was unable to resume his career as a farrier – someone who shoes horses for a living.

One night, Joseph heard a car squeal up to the car wash, a dog barking and then a splash, followed by a dog crying.

A female German Shepherd mix who had recently had puppies had been thrown in to a six-foot-deep oil pit behind the car wash. Joseph hollered to some people nearby but they didn't respond. He could see that the dog was getting weighted down by the oil, and was afraid it wouldn't last long if he didn't do something, so he jumped into the pit with her, prosthetic leg and all.

He managed to get the dog, which later was named Ellie Mae, out of the pit, and called the woman who had befriended him. She and her husband rushed over there, and she took Ellie Mae to the vet, and her husband took Joseph to help him get cleaned up.

Ellie Mae wound up at the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, which is where I met her. The dog walkers there set up a fund to make sure Joseph always had food for Biscuit, something the woman, Nancy, had been doing at her own expense. Nancy took Biscuit to the vet to make sure she had her shots. Biscuit turned out to be heart-worm positive, and the dog walkers fund paid for treatment and also to get him neutered. The Humane Society loaned Joseph a crate to keep Biscuit in during his treatment, because Joseph didn't want to be separated from his four-legged friend.

Nancy’s husband took Joseph to get him signed up for Social Security benefits, and they bought him a tent to put up at his spot behind the car wash.

Joseph fell on hard times not long after that when he was mugged again, and his prosthetic leg was damaged to the point that it was unusable. The Humane Society dog walkers helped again, finding him some crutches and someone had a connection that enabled him to get a new prosthesis.

In the meantime, Joseph’s sister convinced him to move into a workshop behind her home, which he did. Biscuit survived his heartworm treatment and stayed w/Joseph.

As for Ellie Mae, her family came forward, and after some discussion, they surrendered her and her litter of puppies to the Humane Society. They all have good homes now.

A few months went by before anybody heard from Joseph again. He called his contact at the humane society just to say hello and thank you.

He’s still living in the workshop behind his sister’s home, and his new leg has given him the mobility that he needs to work, so he’s been busy doing odd jobs as a handyman, and he’s been eating well enough that he has gained 30 pounds. He is also trying to get his farrier business restarted.

His pal Biscuit is also thriving, and is his constant companion. He’s trained the dog to open doors for him by flipping the latch with its nose, and Biscuit will go and sit wherever Joseph tells him to.

When he doesn't have any work, he still likes to go to his old spot by the car wash.

The folks at the Humane Society asked if he needed anything, as the fund that had been started for him and Biscuit still had some cash in it, and he said no, he just wanted to say hello and to thank everyone again for all they had done.

He also said that he has found homes for five dogs he found living on the street.

Even though Joseph’s story doesn't have anything to do with Church of the River, I have no doubt in my mind that, with all the lives that this church has touched, it and its family have played a role in many similar stories.

And those people have likely gone on like Joseph, and done what they can to help others, too.

And that is why we bother.